corr: asking your inputs about the Bunkacho project, the National Center for Media Arts
hakutaku at kansaigaidai.ac.jp
hakutaku at kansaigaidai.ac.jp
Tue Jun 16 19:02:59 EDT 2009
It has been interesting to follow the many insightful suggestions by Aaron and others concerning the possibility of this new government project.
As someone who teaches both anime and manga ( among other areas), I wanted to say a few things about the importance of including manga. Manga does indeed have quite a history in Japan, yet so do cinema and animation. One key role of manga today is the way it serves as a base for developments in so many areas, including anime, games, and some types of live action cinema. To study Nausicaa, Akira, or Tezuka's animation (to name only a few of the most internationally popular) animations without deep study of their related manga is to form a very incomplete understanding of their production and meaning. To deeply study many of these areas of necessity involves manga, so to exclude the collection, preservation, exhibition, and most especially scholarly analysis of manga from such a center would be regrettable.
As I live in Kyoto, I regularly visit the Manga museum there, however, it is far from an ideal basis for a institution to study manga. The collection and Museum activities are largely focused on teenage and younger manga and audiences. They do invite noted manga creators to lecture but most of these lectures are fan based and directed rather than having scholarly content. There have been a few scholarly symposia and a few good (but extremely small and without catalogs) exhibitions of archival materials in their minimal display space, yet it is hard to imagine without a major change of direction that this Museum could develop or meaningfully support deep research, major exhibitions, and so on. Also, its location in Kyoto makes it hard to access for the academic and population centered in Tokyo and the Kanto area.
Given the history of such things, it is likely that something will be created in Tokyo that won't be what we would like to see and it will become necessary to see how whatever appears can then be made more useful. Nonetheless, this online discussion of what might be valuable seems like a significant opportunity to consider the importance of interdisciplinary work in contemporary media in Japan. I have often been frustrated by seeing a division made between the study of manga and anime among Japanese scholars despite the rewards of simultaneous consideration of these integrally interrelated forms. I hope others might share online some thoughts about these topics.
Paul Berry
Professor
Kansai Gaidai University
Osaka
>I have received quite a few messages on and off list. Thank you so
>much! One thing that has become clear is that the ideas I received
>are almost completely absent on Japanese websites and blogs, perhaps
>all 704,000 sleds I hit on google. This is also the case in the June
>4 symposium in which the four brains of the center plan--Hamano
>Yasuki (prof. at Tokyo U.), Satonaka Machiko (cartoonist), Tosa
>Nobumichi (artist), and Moriyama Tomoe (curator)--expressed their
>opinions (http://ameblo.jp/akihiko/entry-10274113451.html). So it
>seems very significant to address researchers' viewpoints and
>demands, though I think I should be careful about this politically
>sensitive issue. I might post later. Many thanks again!
>
>Hideaki Fujiki
>
>
>
>
>
>On 2009/06/12, at 22:37, Ariane Beldi wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> This message is only superficially related to this fascinating
>> discussion,
>> but since you are talking about early Japanese animation, I can't
>> help but
>> signal the forthcoming retrospective on 60 years of animes at the next
>> Locarno International Film Festival
>> (http://www.pardo.ch/jahia/Jahia/home/lang/en) in Switzerland. Here
>> is the
>> Website with the description of this part of the festival and an
>> upcoming
>> detailed program: http://www.mangaimpact.ch/. These events are being
>> organized in cooperation with the National Museum of Cinema of Torino,
>> Italy. If I'm not wrong, the museum will also be holding a special
>> exhibit
>> on Japanese animation until the end of this year.
>>
>> Since I live in Switzerland (though not in Ticino, the Italian-
>> speaking area
>> where the Festival takes place) and plan to attend it at least for
>> a few
>> days, if anyone is interested and would like some information about
>> travel
>> and accomodation arrangement, I'll gladly try my best to help you.
>>
>> I apologize that one of my only contributions to this mailing list
>> is not
>> directly linked to the topic and hope you will not mind too much.
>> However,
>> reading your discussion reminded me of an article about this coming
>> retrospective, which said that most of the animes that will be
>> presented
>> come from Western collections. Apparently, it is only recently that
>> Japanese
>> institutions have decided to keep archives of these productions.
>>
>> Again, I'm sorry for intervening here with this announcement only
>> slightly
>> related to the topic of your discussion.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Ariane Beldi
>>
>> Ph.D. Candidate
>> Doctoral School in Media & Communication Studies
>> University of Geneva, Switzerland
>> http://www.unige.ch/ses/socio/communication/bienvenue.html
>> _______________________________________________________
>> beldi9 at etu.unige.ch
>> http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=591868073
>> http://www.linkedin.com/in/arianebeldi
>> http://arianebeldi.wordpress.com
>>
>>
>> -----Message d'origine-----
>> De : owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>> [mailto:owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu] De la part de Eija
>> Niskanen
>> Envoyé : vendredi, 12. juin 2009 02:17
>> À : KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>> Objet : Re: corr: asking your inputs about the Bunkacho project, the
>> National Center for Media Arts
>>
>> I would add to Aaron's great list:
>>
>> The center should have a preservation and restoration program for
>> Japanese
>> early animation, and should actively collect any historical documents
>> related to early animation.
>>
>> It would really be a waste of money to build another manga museum,
>> as Kyoto
>> already has a great one, so part of the funds should rather go to
>> supporting
>> Kyoto Manga Musuem and arranging mutual cooperation between the
>> Center and
>> Kyoto Manga Museum. Same goes to NFC.
>>
>> Eija
>>
>> 2009/6/12 Sarah Teasley <sarah.teasley at rca.ac.uk>:
>>> In response to Aaron's reply, hear hear!
>>>
>>> Following on Aaron's points 6) and 8), I would adapt the phrasing of
>>> his 8) and add that the point, in the end, is how cool Japan is
>>> towards its own media history, and how confident Japan is that
>>> animators, game designers, media artists, other 'geijutsuka' and
>>> 'kurieta-' and the companies that they run and/or that employ them
>>> will continue to produce work with skill, originality and verve,
>>> whether or not the Bunkacho builds a generator for them.
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>>
>>> Sarah Teasley / sarah.teasley at rca.ac.uk
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 11 Jun 2009, at 22:19, Aaron Gerow wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> I've been watching the news on this and have had my
>>> worries too.
>>> There's a lot of politics going on, but building one more box with no
>>> plan is not going to help much. I also fear the usual rush for "new
>>> media" which forgets the entire history of cinema behind it.
>>>
>>> Quickly, here are some things I would stress:
>>>
>>> 1) Do not build anything until a clear plan has been made for
>>> how the facility should be used. This plan should be made not by
>>> government bureaucrats, but by researchers, fans, and industry
>>> figures
>>> in equal numbers. Personally, I think it is important that the center
>>> should be a research and exhibition center first (the NFC's
>>> problem is
>>> that it is a preservation facility first, leaving research as an
>>> after
>> thought).
>>>
>>> 2) Crucial is defining its place amongst the various
>>> media. If
>>> it does anime, clearly it does film, since much of anime was
>>> produced on
>> film.
>>> If it does include non-film media, will it include TV? How is manga
>>> "new media"? What of computer games? How are all these to relate to
>>> existing archives like the NFC or the Kyoto Manga Museum or NHK?
>>> Personally, I think mixing anime, manga and anything "cool" is a
>>> problem: it is stretching too far, is confusing (it has no principal
>>> other than some vague pop culture or market-based definition), and
>>> steps on many toes. I would drop manga and focus on anime, TV,
>>> computer games, and media art, though of course allowing for research
>>> and exhibitions exploring connections with other media like film.
>>>
>>> 3) As a research center, it should have not only a library
>>> and
>>> viewing facilities, but space for conferences and workshops. Viewing
>>> should be easy and inexpensive for individual researchers. The center
>>> should have a publication arm that produces academic journals,
>>> exhibition catalogs, and full-length monographs. The center should
>>> both employ a full staff of researchers--who have time for research
>>> and the freedom to be inventive in research and programming--and have
>>> fellowships for one-year research projects on site. A research center
>>> cannot succeed without connections to academia, so the Bunkacho must
>>> cooperate with the Monkasho to create academic programs at nearby
>> universities to further media research.
>>>
>>> 4) The Bunkacho must coordinate with industry to collect not
>>> only important end products, but also materials related to
>>> production,
>>> including internal company documents. NHK and the other TV networks
>>> have been terrible at making available their full catalogs: the law
>>> should require them to deposit all that in the center for free,
>>> unrestricted viewing. The Bunkacho must also work with companies to
>>> have them waive copyright for use of stills, etc. of any publication
>>> produced by the center, or for any materials that a scholar uses from
>>> the center in class or in publications. The center should be thought
>>> of as not following industry, but leading it in terms of its
>>> cultural, not
>> economic aspects.
>>>
>>> 5) As an exhibition site, the center should not only hold
>>> regular series, but also regular festivals and lecture series for the
>>> general public. It thus needs various size halls for such
>>> exhibitions,
>>> some of which can be rented for scholarly or community media events.
>>>
>>> 6) The center should not just be thought of as an
>>> international promotion site for the industry's products, but an
>>> independent cite for critical research and discussion. It can work in
>>> concert with industry, but its needs should trump that of
>>> industry. It
>>> should thus focus primarily not on introducing Japan's new products,
>>> but on critically examining their history, culture, ideology, etc.
>>> Only such an institution will get the respect of foreign researchers.
>>> To further the international aims of the center, it should also
>>> sponsor international fellowships, translations of critical works,
>>> and
>> subtitling of historical media works.
>>>
>>> 7) The center must be fully budgeted for at least a decade
>>> after it opens, which means lots of money for staff, publications,
>>> and
>>> events. That is the problem with hakomono gyosei: fund what's good
>>> for
>>> your construction company buddies, but not what will actually fill
>>> the
>>> box. If they want to avoid the impression that this is just Aso's pet
>>> project, this center should not be built until other related
>>> institutions like the NFC are reformed and fully funded.
>>>
>>> 8) The point, in the end, is not to show cool Japan, but to
>>> show how cool Japan is towards its own media history.
>>>
>>> A bit quickly written (I probably forgot a lot) and probably
>>> totally unrealizable, but I hope this helps. Thanks for the chance to
>> dream a bit.
>>>
>>> Aaron Gerow
>>> Assistant Professor
>>> Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
>>> Yale University
>>> 53 Wall Street, Room 316
>>> PO Box 208363
>>> New Haven, CT 06520-8363
>>> USA
>>> Phone: 1-203-432-7082
>>> Fax: 1-203-432-6764
>>> e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu
>>> site: www.aarongerow.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Eija Niskanen
>> c/o Hirasawa
>> Koenji-kita 4-2-10
>> Suginami-ku
>> Tokyo 166-0002
>>
>>
>>
>
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